Method of rendering concrete resistant to moisture.



TATES OFFICE.

' I f n'nonm or'nwronx, 1w. I i

- specification o1 I Patented J mes, 1918.

p Io mm. I Application fled October 20, 1817. Serial 10.187317.

Toallwlloinitmay concern:

gregate'sand relates provement in the art Be it known-that I, ABRAHAM E. Home, a citizen ofthe United. States, residing in New York in the county of New York and State of blew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods 'of Rendering Concrete Resistant to Moisture, of which the following is a specification. l

This invention relatesto the field of waterproofing concrete and similar cement agyespecially to an imof waterproofing sllch normally water-pervious structural material through the agenc of a .compound of oranicacid materia with ammonia or simia'r volatile alkali body. I Heretofore it has been customary in this field to make use of water insoluble soa s of the nature of stearate of lime and t e like, to which the objection has been raised that therbonding action of the concrete is weakened by the presence of such. material.

. lubricatin Possibly such weakening efi'ect as hasbeen observed through the use of stearate oflime or similar inso uble soaps has been due to a sort of lubricating action resulting from the presence in the mass of the concrete of fatty material or bodies of .a lubricating character, elther present in the: original stearate in form of hydrocarbons, or' else, possibl rcsultmlg from the action 'of aging, on such soap.. n the production of stearl'c acidby the distillation process, according to I which a considerable amount of s'tearic and oleic apdsimilar fatty acids are refined, reactlons may take place, giving rise to'the prodnctlon of hydrocarbons which donot combine, with the lime present andwhich therefore remain in free state to exert a practice. A further possibility is" that the oxidation and other changes taking place in 2 these fatty acids presenti'nthe concrete adsorbing or combining with, in some caltor loose chemical manner, other co oldal bodies When a'concrete mass forms col-' loidalhydrosilicates it would he, therefore,-

action when the concrete is subr. ected to orces of compression. Thus-icons,-

'iar Ymfile'al-kali.

'for'iexample, of the or' colcphony,i. maric or oleic acid and am-' monia. In place of .ordinary rosin the appears to be borne out in split or hydrocarbon bodies a; bodies of a lubricating nature, 'havin'grlike'action.

The hardening of cement or concrete aggre tio I and formfa mat. Hardening, is however more likel due to the formation of colloidal bodies. The hydrated silicious matterwhich forms on contact of cement with water is undoubtedl of a colloidal character, being what. is known asa hydrosilicate or zeolitic body, and the settin ing of cement'may be ascribe to the solidiand hardente was formerly ascribed'to the formaa of crystalline bodies, which interlace v,

fication and densification of this colloidal material, that is to say, the conversion of the silicious hydrosol into a h drogel, resultin in the initial set followed by a slow densl cation accounting. for the final set. In an case the presence of ordinary'lime in suc waterproofing materialadde the tendency to impair the blnding quality to a. considerable extent.

.In the field of colloidal chemistry it is known that a colloid has the propertfy of yslin a condition to adsorb any colloidal body present.

in a powdered form to the concrete mass apparently has In the present invention advan-.

ta lpreferably is taken of this colloidal a sor mg phenomenon to avail of a weak combination between a colloidal waterproofin agent and some portion of the colloida hydrosilicates formed in the setting of'the cement.

Specifically, the invention is concerned with certain ammonium compounds of re sinic or resinous and,fatty acids and: articularly 'to certain com lexes obtaine by 'sapon'ifying resinic and. attyacids, preferm simultaneously,

to'qbtain molecular complexes made up from, s of ordinary. rosin resinsof a harder nature may be used, in-

with ammoniamsilni- In th1s way it is possible cluding the resin acids of Manila and other copals, andthe like. Stearic acid. admixed w1th palmitic acid may also be employed, preferably employing stearic acid substantially free from lubricating hydrocarbons. If more than a trace of lubricatin hydrocarbons be present, such materia should not be used in preparing the preferred product of the present invention. In the case of therosin material, a high acid 'number or high content of resin 301d is not so important as the unsaponifiable matter in the case of rosin material "does not exert the same In fact the product obtained by contact of the product of the present invention with the. alkali of concrete has a decidedly' favorable action on the strength" of concrete, due no doubt to the particular peculiar colloidal conditions obtained. In tests which Ihave made the strength vof concrete has b'enjincreased to a-very desirable extent by the action of this waterproofmaterial.

v in

I In place of ammonia, it is possible to use in whole, or in part at-least, other volatile alkalis, having the same reactive qualities, including some of the volatile amins. Preferably resin acid and stearic acid should be used 1n molecular proportions and ammonia may be added me ui'valent amount, or an excess may be emp oyed if desired. Preferably, however, I employ 'alesser amount of ammonia than is actually required to. combine with. all the .resinic and fatty acid present. a when ordinary rosin is dissolved 1n ammomacal solution, having present approximately 'suflicient ammonia to completely combine with .the rosin acid and with lacking enough water also present to afford a syrupy 40 or vlscous mass, it'will be found under t e proper conditions that ordinary rosin will dissolve in this body, although ammonia is to combine with it. As the ammonium radical and the normal acid of rosin m' bothmonovalent, it is difficult to ex-' plain this action on the (mild of formation a of a basic body and it is probable that the rosin goes into solution as a hydrosol due ofthe pre-forfned to the colloidal. activit ammonla resmate. T us, a considerable proportlon of apparently free rosinmay be placed. in solution in such a composition without producing a thick unworkable mass and this apparently free rosin has certain propfrties which render the composition ig y useful in the waterproofing of con crete.

V F In the first place less ammonia is required 1 in the composition and thus there is a saving in the cost of manufacture. In the second place there isless ammonia tobe liberated on contact with theconcrete mass which also is beneficialas the setting time of the cement is thus not likely to be unsisting properties of a remarkably satisfac-' .tory character, while at the same time not afl'ecting the strength of theconcrete in an undesirable way' and in fact on the contrary acting rather to give the concrete a greater strength. The rosin material apparentlyhas the further desirable action of protecting the stearic compounds formed, from undesirable changes, leading to the production oflubricating hydrocarbons,'and the like, to ultimately cause a loss in compres sive strength of the concrete.

As "I' have stated in my Patent No. 1,088,022 issued Feb. 24,1914, relating to the use of ammoniacal compounds of ste'aric acid, my investigations .and observations at that time led me to the conclusion that there was a reaction existent tending to augment the waterproofing efl'ectnormally existing, such reactionbeing due in part to the formation of complex stearates of silicoand alumino-stearates of lime, magnesium and;

iron, all depending on the nature of the cement and aggregate and other conditions not then indicated. My further investigations have brought me to the conclusion that the use of resin combinations with ammonia, preferably with stearic acid or similar fatty acid, although such fatty material may be omitted under some circumstances, brings about reactions not necessarily of a strict chemical nature but'rather due to colloidal adsorption and in this respect it appears that the-resinous compoundsare much more active than the fatty compounds in bring in about or favoring the production of colloldal adsorption products.

The composition employed in the present invention may be made in the proportions described, preferably employing an excess of rosin over the amount of ammonia presone solution under the conditions of the present invention. Suchmaterial may be madeup as a solution of any desired strength which may be incorporated with the water used in making theconcrete, and as soon as 'contact with the cement results, reactions begin, tending to produce the'waterproofing body or colloid herein noted. It is probable that ammonium resinate acts as an eecut to secure the effect of free rosin in aque- Ill celerator for colloidal development; in the waterproofing action. It would be possible to produce a highly-waterproof concrete if cement could be treated to develop a s'ufliconcrete and in this respect has a'specific cient amount of colloidal silicious material;

Such colloidal material tends to render the concrete more and more impervious, depending on the amount of the colloidal matter present. Ammonium resinate, as stated, apparently has-the specific effect of acceleratmg colloidal development and also bringing about a greater roduction of colbida'lsilicious material t anis normal to Portland cement, so that a degreeof imperviousness is obtained in this manner which is highly beneficial.

A further feature of the invention is the fact that in making up concrete masses it is not necessary to use so large an amount of water as is employed when using some waterproofing preparations. It is of course, necessary to produce a concrete that can be the case of some waterproofing not obtain in the present invention. By thus keeping the water'within the limits necessary handled readily with the spade or will slide freely down chutes and consequently water must be added until the consistency is satisfacto for such purpose. On the other hand the a dition of excessive amounts of water to concrete weakens it greatly. Enormous variations in the strength of concrete are observed, due to the fact that the water content has been widely varied. In the present case my observations indicate that considerably less water may be used to produce a body having the proper plasticity and mechanical handling qualities so that the. objection of required use of excessive amounts of water in bodies does to secure a workable mass, an increase in compressive strength of 111% or more has been obtained.

Many waterproofing agents seek to fill the voids of the concrete in some manner,-'which is practically an impossibility. All that can be expected in concrete masses containing the usual amount of aggregate is to line the capillaries with a water-repellent substance which-increases the frictional resistance of the water in its efiorts to penetrate the mass.

pre-fo'rmed soaps such as calcium stearate in.

powdered form do not avail. to the fullest extent in lining capillary passages, while a waterproofing agent properly formed in the mass does have this tendency, and in the present invention where a, product of a colloidal nature is present and therefore havinfi the tendency -to be "adsorbed by other 00 oidal bodies, the lining of-the ca illaries with a waterproofin substance is o tained in a high degree, whi e in the cement the release or neration of a greater proportion of colloi al hydrosilicates, or what may be termed mineral glue by the colloidal developing action of the resinous-body leads maximum efiiciency and low cost in waterproofing operations.

The amount of resinate or ammonium resino-stearate, as it maybe termed, calculated to an anhydrous basis, which may be added to the concrete mass is apgroximately 1% to 2%, and generally'spe g, 1% 1s sufficient for the purpose;

The foregoing description involves terms which are given for illustrative purposes on] and I do not wish to be lim ted by suc specific discussion. The inventionembraced herein is ex ressed by the appended claims. For examp e, although I have mentioned raw materials, such for example, as stearic acid, derived from some s ecific source, it

should be understood that am no "limited to materials derived in thatmanner utf nay- .use any raw substancesor materia as e uivalents for those mentioned. "in

an---i lustrative manner; What I claim is: 1. The process of wate roofing comprising. ammonium resinateg fa e s: whlch comprises addmgereto a solution 2. The process of waterproofing concrete:

which comprises. adding thereto a solution comprising ammonium-1 resina'te an excess of rosin dissolved therein; I

3; The process of water roofing concrete comprising ammonium resino-stearate 4. The process of waterproofing concrete I which comprises adding thereto a solution comprlsing ammonium resino-stearate with free rosin dissolved theigein. r

5. .In the recess of wa erproofing concrete, the step w ich comprises reactin onjthe colloidal hydrosilicatesof Portlan cement with a colloidal solution of ammonium resinate.

which comprises adding t ereto a solution 6. In the process of waterproofing-comcrete, the step which comprises reactm on the colloidal hydrosilicates of P0 and nium resino-stearate.

7 In the process of waterproofingconcrete, the step which comprises reacting on the colloidal hydrosilicates of Portland cement with a colloidal solution of ammonium resinate and stearate, free from lubricating hydro- 10s cement with a colloidal solution of ammocrete, the step which comprises incorporating therewith a solution containing an ammoniacal compound of a resin.

12. In the process of waterproofing con- 5 crete, the step which comprises adding thereto a com ound comprising a resinous body and a v0 atile alkali.

13. The process of waterproofing concrete, whichcomprises adding thereto an accelerator of the formation of colloidal hydrosilicates, ,said accelerator containing a com- 

